August 2, 2004 - With all the videogames that come out each and every month, it can be quite a difficult task to decide which title to spend your hard-earned money on. Granted you could go by our review scores alone and weed through the long list of games in search of something that scored high or low, but what if you had somewhere else to turn to?

July 13, 2004 - It's been a long time coming. Namco has just announced it has shipped Tales of Symphonia to retailers nationwide. The latest entry in the Tales series is a GameCube exclusive and will help relieve that RPG drought experienced by Nintendo fans.

July 6, 2004 - The GameCube has been without a solid, original RPG for far too long. Some will cry out for Skies of Arcadia Legends love -- but as good as it is, it's really nothing more than a director's cut. Others will demand recognition for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles -- but it's not really a RPG. This leaves us with nothing... until Namco steps up to the plate with two RPGs later this summer -- both exclusive to the GameCube. The first, Tales of Symphonia, is arriving on our shores next week.
Back it up. Across the Pacific Ocean, Tales Studios (responsible for the popular Japanese RPGs Tales of Destiny and Tales of Phantasia) was working on the next Tales installment -- Tales of Symphonia. However, regardless of the series' Japanese renown for its action oriented battle system and beautiful 2D art, Tales never took off in the United States. In fact, most US gamers were never aware that Tales existed. Namco had a dilemma. Should it release this hot new Tales game in the previously unreceptive but potentially larger US market? And if one were to release it in the US...how do you break a Japanese RPG series out in the States? The simple solution? Put it exclusively on a RPG-starved system.

May 4, 2004 - Namco came out of the door swinging today when it announced its rather impressive lineup for the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo next week. Located in the South Hall at booth #1300, Namco will be showcasing a truckload of cool new titles and sequels including the highly anticipated Tekken 5 (the Zaibatsu crowd shall rejoice) and Death By Degrees.
"Namco is showcasing its most impressive line up of new content ever at this year's E3Expo," said Robert Ennis, chief financial and operating officer for Namco Hometek Inc. "We have taken our core franchises to exciting new levels and are introducing some incredible new content with our biggest showing ever at E3. We think convention goers will really take notice of Namco's significant presence this year at the show."

April 30, 2004 - On April 6, Namco held a pre-E3 event that allowed the gaming press to spend some quality time with its E3 lineup -- without the froth-inducing madness of E3. Among the titles shown was one of IGNcube's most anticipated titles for 2004, Tales of Symphonia. You might be thinking, "Yeah, I've seen the import. I know what's going on." Well friend, you don't know all, because we spent some time with the US build and were able to talk about the localization process with Tales' producer. Check out the links below for all our Pre-E3 coverage, including an interview, hands-on, screens, and localized footage.

April 30, 2004 - Tales of Symphonia is not only the first Tales game in full 3D and the first time the series has appeared on GameCube, it's also the first original GameCube RPG (Skies of Arcadia is a great port, but still a port). While the game sports a unique combat system and art style, what really carries the title is its epic story. Of course, when any dialogue intensive game originating in Japan is localized for a US audience, there's the fear that the story and voice acting qualities will be sacrificed (any RPG player or anime watcher knows the horrors of dubbing). To alleviate our concerns, IGNcube sat down with Nao Higo, the localization producer for Symphonia, to talk about the localization process and what US gamers can expect from the latest Tales game.